We offer graduate training leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. in a wide range of fields, including Early America, Modern America, African-American, Colonial and Modern Latin America, Military, Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Modern Europe, British and British Empire, South Asia, Imperial and Soviet Russia, Traditional and Modern China, Modern Japan, Africa, History of Medicine, History of Science and Technology and Global History.
Our Curriculum
The first two years of graduate study include a three-seminar sequence encompassing one course on historiography/social theory, one on research methods, and one on teaching. We promote well-defined guidelines for mentoring and student progress throughout the program. We also feature a portfolio approach for candidacy for Ph.D. preliminary examinations that includes development of a portfolio of essays and teaching materials, with defined progress milestones, as well as an oral defense of that portfolio. And finally, we offer competitive funding support and significant support in professional career development and job placement.
Thriving Intellectual Environment
Duke is part of a rich, regional academic network that includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and North Carolina Central University, also in Durham, as well as a slew of Triangle-wide history reading groups, many of which hold monthly sessions at the National Humanities Center. Cross-registration and a shared use of libraries, as well as cooperative programs, are a major asset. Duke's own library system is one of the leading institutions in the country, holding in excess of 5,000,000 volumes and housing a highly regarded special collections library, all of which have particular strength in history. The nearby University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has a comparable collection which is further complemented by the library holdings of North Carolina State University, and North Carolina Central University. Altogether our institutions comprise the Triangle Research Libraries Network, one of the strongest humanities and social science research facilities in the United States.
